Ritual held to commemorate Father Lac Long Quan (Photo: VNA) Legend has it that Lac Long Quan (real name Sung Lam, son ofKinh Duong Vuong and Than Long Nu) married Au Co (the fairy daughter of DeLai). Au Co then went on to give birth to a pouch filled with one hundred eggs,which hatched into a hundred sons. However, soon thereafter, Lac Long Quan andAu Co separated. Lac Long Quan went to the coast with 50 of the children, whileAu Co went to the highlands with the rest.
Their eldest son was made king, who named the country VanLang and set up the capital in Phong Chau (modern-day Viet Tri city in Phu Thoprovince), beginning the 18 reigns of the Hung Kings.
The kings chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in theregion, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for bumpercrops.
To honour their great contributions, a complex of templesdedicated to them was built on Nghia Linh Mountain, and the 10th day of thethird lunar month serves as the national commemorative anniversary for the Hung Kings.
The worship of the Hung Kings, closely related to theancestral worship traditions of most Vietnamese families, was recognised aspart of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2012.
This year, the Hung Kings Temple Festival is being held in the northern midlandprovince from April 9 to 18 (or the 1st to the 10th day of the third lunarmonth), along with the Culture and Tourism Week of the Ancestral Land./.
VNA
